Relatives of Missing Student Christian Aguilar Denied Travel Visas

Miami – Family members University of Florida student Christian Aguilar, who was missing for nearly a month before his body was found Sunday, have been denied visas, according to the office of U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio.

Two of Aguilar's aunts had tried to secure humanitarian travel visas. Rubio's office has been trying to assist them.

Just yesterday investigators announced that dental records of a body found in a wooded area near Gainesville, Fla., positively matched those of Aguilar.

The announcement officially ended a nearly month-long search for the freshman from Miami.

Hundreds of volunteers from all corners of the state had traveled to Gainesville to search for Aguilar, but the finding brought a sad finality. Police said further tests would determine how he died, according to The Miami Herald.

Two hunters found the body last Friday at the Gulf Hammock Hunting Club in a rural stretch of Levy County, which is an hour outside Gainesville. When authorities arrived at the site, they found blue sneakers and dark blue jeans with the body, clothing that matched what Aguilar was wearing on Sept. 20, the day he went missing.

Aguilar’s disappearance drew national attention, catching the eye of Rubio and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. The FBI helped in the search of the 18-year-old biomechanical engineering student.

Aguilar's high school friend Pedro Bravo, 18, was arrested on Sept. 28 on charges of denying medical treatment to a crime victim after he said that he beat the young man and left him lying in a parking lot.

Authorities subsequently found Aguilar's backpack in Bravo’s closet and blood on his vehicle.

"While some people still hoped to find Christian alive,” Gainesville Police Department spokesman Ben Tobias said last week. “The unfortunate reality is going to sink in. I'm glad the family is finally going to get some closure."